WHEN Stivvies reached the end of the line after 140 years of making locomotives, among the small huddle of the last employees waving off the final engine was George Mullen.

The Northern Echo: Closure of Robert Stephenson and Hawthorne / Stivvies closure in 1964, Darlington. Worker gather to see the final diesel locomotive as it leaves the Darlington works

George Mullen is the big fella in the cap and long coat

For George, a foreman mechanic, the departure on April 28, 1964, of diesel engine D6898 from Robert Stephenson & Co’s Springfield works in Darlington meant the end of his 40-year career.

Perhaps as he saw it off, he was thinking of all the other engines that, over the decades, he had seen the factory give birth to – and none, he must have thought, was as well known as the replicas of the Rocket which he had been in charge of building for the American industrialist Henry Ford, who was an enthusiast for any machine that moved.

But before George Mullen built engines, he scored goals.

He was born in Boyne Street in the Rise Carr area of Darlington, where the tight terraced streets produced several brilliant footballers.

Having excelled locally while working for Stivvies, George joined Bishop Auckland in the summer of 1921. The Two Blues were then the best amateur football team in the country – they had just won the FA Amateur Cup to prove it.

The Northern Echo: Bishop Auckland FC in 1922 after winning the FA Amateur Cup for a second successive season. George Mullen, who scored a crucial goal in the final, is second from the right on the front row

Bishop Auckland FC in 1922 after winning the FA Amateur Cup for a second successive season. George Mullen, who scored a crucial goal in the final, is second from the right on the front row

George, a centre forward, won a place in the Bishops’ starting eleven in 1922 as they again went trophy hunting: they beat Langley Park, Esh Winning, Cardiff Corinthians, Royal Marine Artillery and Dulwich Hamlet to reach the Amateur Cup final for a second successive year.

They played South Bank in front of a crowd of 22,500 at Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park stadium but, with four minutes remaining and the Bishops trailing 2-1, the run appeared to be coming to an end.

But then George scored the equaliser which took the match to extra time, and Bishop Auckland ran out 5-2 winners.

The amateur champions were now big box office, and George went with them on a tour of the Channel Islands, sailing first class out of Southampton, and then of Barcelona, where they played the Spanish giants twice and their Scottish guests, Dundee, once in a mini-tournament.

George must have caught a scout’s eye because he then turned professional, signing for First Division Sheffield Wednesday.

However, he soon became homesick and pleaded to be released from his contract. The Owls reluctantly agreed, and George returned home. He signed for the Quakers on £2-a-week with a £1 extra if he were in the first team.

The Northern Echo: George Mullen, possibly in a Quakers' shirt

George Mullen, possibly in a Quakers' shirt

The Quakers’ star centre forward that season was Davy Brown, one of their greatest ever players who scored 74 goals in 97 appearances. Consequently, George only made one appearance when Brown was unavailable: on December 5, 1924, in an FA Cup replay against Leadgate Park at Feethams.

Darlington won 1-0 and George scored the only goal. He must, therefore, have the best record of any Quakers striker, scoring in every game that he played.

He had a short run at Shildon but seems to have concentrated on his proper job at Stivvies where he was in charge of the erecting shop.

Stivvies’ most famous engine of all time is probably Rocket, which Robert and George Stephenson built at their Newcastle factory in 1829 for the Rainhill Trials. Rocket, travelling reliably at 29½mph, won the trials and so was selected to pull the inaugural train on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway.

The Northern Echo: Henry Ford seen With 1921 Model T.

Henry Ford with 1921 Model T

As the 100th anniversary of the trials approached, transport enthusiast Henry Ford wanted to acquire Rocket, but found the British unwilling to sell. He then discovered that Stivvies was still in operation, although it had moved from Newcastle to Darlington in 1899. He asked Stivvies to make a working replica, and George was in charge of its construction.

The Northern Echo: Rocket for Henry Ford leaving Darlington. Picture: JW Armstrong Trust

The Rocket replica for Henry Ford leaving Darlington. Picture: JW Armstrong Trust

The replica was waved off from Darlington on July 8, 1929, and is still in “the Henry Ford”, as the museum in Detroit is known.

Such a success was the replica, that the Museum of Peaceful Arts in New York got Stivvies to make it one, that was delivered in 1931. This museum has closed, and we believe this replica is now in the Pony Express Museum in Missouri.

Then a third replica was made, again in 1931, for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where it is still on display.

Finally, a fourth replica was completed on February 14, 1935, and is now part of the National Railway Museum’s collection.

The Northern Echo: The replica of Robert Stephenson's Rocket, built by George Mullen in Darlington in 1929, on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit in 2019. Picture: Richard Barber, courtesy of the JW Armstrong Trust

The replica of Robert Stephenson's Rocket, built by George Mullen in Darlington in 1929, on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit in 2019. Picture: Richard Barber

George’s part in building the American replicas was commemorated in an inscribed plaque which his grandson, David, remembers seeing in the hall of his home.

It was David who spotted his grandfather, who died in 1978 when he was eight, waving off D6898 in Memories last year.

D6898 went on display in October outside the Head of Steam museum. Let’s hope one day it is seen by as many people as George’s replica in “the Henry Ford” in Detroit – before the pandemic, this Darlington-made exhibit was seen by 1.7m people each year.

The Northern Echo: Stephenson's Springfield Works from the Thompson Street East bridge. Picture: Ray Goad, courtesy of the JW Armstrong Trust

Stivves' Springfield Works from the Thompson Street East bridge over the East Coast Main Line, at the north end of Darlington. Picture: Ray Goad, courtesy of the JW Armstrong Trust

MEMORIES 556 told how once Robert Stephenson & Co – fondly known as “Stivvies” – employed 4,000 people building engines for a global market in north Darlington. When the huge factory closed in 1964, it was demolished, and now the Wylam Avenue estate covers much of its grounds.

“The view you published of Stivvies I saw at least once a day from Springfield Farm from the late 1940s to the late 1950s,” says Brian Waistell. Brian’s father rented the farm, which was where the Kingsway estate is today off Thompson Street East, from Stivvies. They grazed sheep on the grass in front of the factory and, once a week, they went to the canteen to collect the leftovers to feed the pigs.

“My dad sat me on his knee and I steered our Vauxhall VX14 down the bottom end of Wylam Avenue,” he says. “Later, he let me drive our Wiilys Jeep down the same road when I was about 15 and there was no traffic about!”

The Northern Echo: Brian Wastell at the back with his brothers, and dog, outside Stivvies' Springfield Works

Brian Wastell at the back with his brothers, and dog, outside Stivvies' Springfield Works